A storm that dropped more than 9 inches of new snow on New York City pounded Boston with blizzard conditions, forcing schools to close and disrupting travel.

Twelve to 20 inches of snow may fall on Boston and parts of New England before the storm moves away late today, forecasters said. Boston officials asked non-essential city workers to stay home and urged other businesses to let employees work from home, according to the city website.

More than 2,000 flights were canceled, mostly in the Northeast, according to airline reports compiled by Bloomberg. Amtrak suspended service between New York and Boston after a tree fell on an overhead power line near Sharon, Massachusetts, and the National Weather Service reported downed trees and power lines across the area.

"As the storm bombs out off the New England coast, the winds will pick up and basically create blizzard-like conditions," said Carl Erickson, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

Cities across the U.S. Northeast deployed thousands of plows and sand-spreaders to tackle the second major snowstorm in a little more than two weeks.

New York City declared a weather emergency, urging people to stay off the roads, as the storm moved in. Public schools remained open.

New York Snowfall

More than 12 inches of snow fell on parts of the Bronx and northern New Jersey while Central Park had received 9.1 inches as of 7 a.m., when skies over Manhattan began to clear, the weather service said. A winter storm warning for the city remains in effect until 7 p.m.

The storm combined two systems, one from the Midwest and another that dropped snow across the South earlier this week, forcing the governors of Georgia and South Carolina to declare emergencies.

New York City had 1,700 plows ready along with 365 salt trucks to tackle the municipal street cleanup, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News.

Crews were equipped with video feeds and GPS systems to pinpoint trouble spots, he said at a press conference yesterday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates New York City's buses and subways, deployed de-icers and snow blowers and said all services were operational today. During a post-Christmas blizzard, 600 buses stalled and hundreds of commuters were stranded.

Snow Preparations

New York state dispatched 685 trucks to keep state highways clear, according to a statement from Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Long Island Power Authority had 300 linemen and 100 additional contractors ready to deal with electrical outages, according to the statement.

New Jersey Transit said on its website it would "cross- honor" tickets all day today, allowing people holding a ticket for one form of public transport to use it on another.

Tom Feeney, spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which maintains that roadway and the Garden State Parkway, said the agency had 550 trucks and plows ready to respond.

The storm follows a blizzard that struck New York and the Northeast Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, dropping at least 20 inches of snow on Central Park and forcing the cancellation of more than 8,000 flights. The storm left some New York City streets unplowed for days and garbage pickups backlogged.